起飞/起飛 qǐfēi — to take off (of an aircraft)

Meanings

1. 1

   to take off (of an aircraft)

   What a plane does when it leaves the ground: 起 to rise, 飞 to fly. The plane is the subject, never the passenger and never the pilot — 飞机起飞了, not 我起飞了.

   verb

Character breakdown

• 起

  qǐ (third tone, dipping)

  to rise, to get up, to stand up; to begin; to raise; a measure word for cases or incidents

  10 strokes⿺走己Radical 走
• 飞/飛

  fēi (first tone, high and level)

  to fly; to flit, to dart; swiftly, at speed

  3 strokesRadical 飛

Example sentences

• 飞机就要起飞了。/飛機就要起飛了。Fēijī (first tone, high and level) jiù (fourth tone, falling) yào (fourth tone, falling) qǐfēi (third tone, dipping) le. (neutral tone)···

  The plane is about to take off.

• 我们的飞机下午三点起飞。/我們的飛機下午三點起飛。Wǒmen (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) fēijī (first tone, high and level) xiàwǔ (fourth tone, falling) sān (first tone, high and level) diǎn (third tone, dipping) qǐfēi. (third tone, dipping)···

  Our plane takes off at three in the afternoon.

Common mistakes

• Not quite他起飞飞机了。

  Correct飞机起飞了。

  起飞 takes no object: nothing and nobody is "taken off". The plane rises by itself, so the plane is the subject and the sentence ends there.

Similar words

Words containing 起

• 起qǐ (third tone, dipping)to rise
• 起来/起來qǐlái (third tone, dipping)to get up, to stand up, to rise
• 一起yìqǐ (fourth tone, falling)together
• 引起yǐnqǐ (third tone, dipping)to give rise to, to cause, to trigger
• 想起xiǎng (third tone, dipping) qǐ (third tone, dipping)to recall
• 对不起/對不起duìbuqǐ (fourth tone, falling)sorry; excuse me
• 起床qǐchuáng (third tone, dipping)to get up, to get out of bed
• 看起来/看起來kàn (fourth tone, falling) qǐ (third tone, dipping) lai (neutral tone)seemingly
• 起诉/起訴qǐ (third tone, dipping) sù (fourth tone, falling)to sue
• 提起tí (second tone, rising) qǐ (third tone, dipping)to mention
• 起码/起碼qǐ (third tone, dipping) mǎ (third tone, dipping)at the minimum
• 发起/發起fā (first tone, high and level) qǐ (third tone, dipping)to originate
• 了不起liǎo (third tone, dipping) bu (neutral tone) qǐ (third tone, dipping)amazing
• 响起/響起xiǎng (third tone, dipping) qǐ (third tone, dipping)(of a sound) to come forth
• 起点/起點qǐ (third tone, dipping) diǎn (third tone, dipping)starting point
• 掀起xiān (first tone, high and level) qǐ (third tone, dipping)to lift
• 起步qǐ (third tone, dipping) bù (fourth tone, falling)to set out

Words containing 飞

• 飞/飛fēi (first tone, high and level)to fly
• 飞机/飛機fēijī (first tone, high and level)aeroplane, plane
• 飞行/飛行fēi (first tone, high and level) xíng (second tone, rising)(of planes etc) to fly
• 飞船/飛船fēi (first tone, high and level) chuán (second tone, rising)spaceship
• 飞行员/飛行員fēi (first tone, high and level) xíng (second tone, rising) yuán (second tone, rising)pilot
• 飞往/飛往fēi (first tone, high and level) wǎng (third tone, dipping)Go to
• 飞翔/飛翔fēi (first tone, high and level) xiáng (second tone, rising)to fly
• 飞跃/飛躍fēi (first tone, high and level) yuè (fourth tone, falling)to leap
• 飞速/飛速fēi (first tone, high and level) sù (fourth tone, falling)swift
• 不翼而飞/不翼而飛bù (fourth tone, falling) yì (fourth tone, falling) ér (second tone, rising) fēi (first tone, high and level)to disappear without trace
• 飞禽走兽/飛禽走獸fēi (first tone, high and level) qín (second tone, rising) zǒu (third tone, dipping) shòu (fourth tone, falling)birds and animals